Natural Born
by A Dog in Fox Clothing
Summary: Makoto Yuki is a 'natural born' Persona user, Tumblr trash and philosopher; he's powerful, gets existential crises daily and ships himself with a robot. In fact, wait! Because everyone is trash! Nobody makes sense! Watch them. Watch this group of imbeciles try to save the world from the Dark Hour. And cry. Because Ken is the only one with a shred of sanity.
1. Breaking Free

**HEY WARNING THIS APPLIES FOR BASICALLY ALL CHAPTERS**

**Turn back now if:**

**You don't like crack; you don't like OP anything; you don't like sexual humour; you don't like having no plot; you don't like Makoto/Aigis.**

**May God have mercy on my soul.**

**This was originally going to be an OP Makoto fic with a Makoto/Aigis pairing, but I couldn't continue it because I didn't know how to go on writing it. So I went 'fuck it' and it's still an OP Makoto/Aigis fic. But uh... sorry for people who liked this before.**

* * *

"Did anybody get the number of the truck that hit me?"

"That was the Reaper, Makoto."

He looked up at Aigis. "I meant the literal truck."

"There isn't a literal truck," she pressed.

Makoto paused. He could've sworn that there _was_ one. Was he dreaming? "Oh. Then why does everything hurt?"

Aigis summoned her Persona, Palladion, and loosed a healing aura over him. Good old Diarahan. "You did get hit by multiple Megidolaon attacks. I'm surprised that you have only sustained as much damage as you have." She gave him a hand up as his wounds continued healing. "All you need now is a change of clothes."

He looked down. "Are my underpants immortal?"

Another voice called out to him. "Well, considering what happened to the rest of your stuff, maybe they are." Akihiko withdrew his fist and shook the shadow flesh off it. That shit stained.

"Oh my god. Immortal. _Boxers_." The realisation dawned on him as he turned towards Akihiko. "I bet you want them, don't you?! Thief! Goddamned thief! Don't take the last of my precious!" The pleading in his wary eyes was real.

Akihiko's eyes widened. "Hey, just because I could be gay doesn't mean that I want to steal your underpants. Jesus fucking Christ Makoto… What even the fuck is wrong with you right now?"

Makoto scrambled behind Aigis. "Hide me," he whispered.

"Now initiating evasive manoeuvre." She swept the huddling Makoto and his immortal boxers into her arms. She started shooting pieces of toast at Akihiko with a free arm, making him leap into the air and catch them in his mouth. Like a dog. Nutrition is important for the whole family!

As she rapid fired the pieces of toast, Aigis ran gracefully through the hallways towards the access point. The author finally remembered what those fucking teleporters are called after two or three years of writing on this fucking site. Access points.

"Koromaru! Let's go!" Akihiko commanded. A rather large shiba-inu responded to his call and grabbed his vest in his teeth, like holding a puppy by the scruff of its neck. This time, it was a red vest. The two of them bounded and followed Aigis, running into a cloaked figure along the way and trampling their revolvers. "You're getting dog spit on me."

"Ruff." Koromaru unceremoniously dropped Akihiko on the floor. "Grrr ruff arf arf!" And he walked off, sassy-like, as if saying, 'then walk by yourself, plebeian!'

Aigis approached the access point. "Makoto, I still do not understand why underwear is so important. Never once have I worn it, even when I am disguising myself amongst the students at school."

He looked up at her, all the trust in the world that he could muster showing deep within his silver eyes. "Aigis. If you say that. All the people who draw doujinshi of you will point it out. And your godly figure will forever be defiled by people who just want to see white—" Makoto cleared his throat as he returned to his alternate train of thought.

"It's because a lot of humans are afraid of showing their genitals in public. It's almost like straight men won't be able to control themselves if they see female genitalia and well… it's like they want to forego common decency because they can't control their sexual urges…" he trailed off, sniffling as he spoke her realisations, harnessed after three years of deep thinking. And Tumblr. So much Tumblr. "And now it's a societal norm."

Aigis looked upon the floppy Makoto (literally, he was kinda sprawled and cartoon-like in her arms) with concern. "Are doujinshi like the magazines that Junpei attempts to hide under his bed?"

A finger was placed across her lips. "Shh. No need to damage his pride further." What kind of person didn't know how to hide their pornos?

She bit his finger.

"That hurt," both of them proclaimed.

Makoto stared at the ground, feeling sad and empty inside. Plus twenty edge points. Aigis felt as if she'd performed many females' dreams. "Let's go. Is cold," Makoto whispered, looking back at Koromaru and Akihiko, who were trying to beat the Reaper again. They weren't doing very well. "Retreeeeeaaaaat…" he shouted into the void.

Koromaru limped towards the two of them, with Akihiko just behind. They'd both been shot by the Reaper and its deadly bullets. They both looked like they were in pain. "I knew I should've learned how to surgery!" Akihiko groaned as he leaned against the wall.

Aigis stared at Akihiko as if she wanted to perform surgery on him.

They decided to wait for renowned surgeon, Derek Stiles, to help them instead, however. They kept on getting bullets in their butts and back as they stumbled towards the access point just after Aigis and Makoto.

The four of them reappeared at the base of Tartarus, where you receive constant education on tooth care, free paste samples and old brushes. Unfortunately, the Greek Underworld didn't necessarily have the best oral hygiene, where eating salty pieces of lettuce equated to brushing your teeth. In fact, that might've been a Roman practice. Blasphemy.

And the black stuff that you encountered inside of the large tower that appeared in an hour which took up the split second between midnight and the beginning of 12:01? The tartar. The unholy, sacrilegious Shadows.

It had to be destroyed!

Thus was Mina—I mean, Makoto and his jolly good team of SEES' super-secret awesome goal typical of most JRPGs. Right? I have no idea what I'm talking about. Kill me now.


	2. Concoction for Disaster

**AN: Now basically co-written with Changling96. Thank him for the rest of the awesome ideas that are popping up later in the story. :)**

* * *

Uncontrollable shaking.

Low-key, his left leg moved, almost buzzing with activity as his eyes constantly scanned the screen, filled with contented blogs that let the world know about their lives. Accompanied by pictures and mp3 files, it truly was a haven.

A primal urge surged from his chest, arching through his arms, wrist, hands and fingers as he watched the words flow down the blue screens like a beautiful, gushing waterfall of poetic-ness and comprehension.

Yes. Yes!

"Makoto-san. Mitsuru-senpai's maids have prepared a meal for you to consume. I have measured its protein and saturated fat levels." He turned around in his swivelling chair, clasping his hands in front of him in the best stereotypical deceiving villain pose. "Condition: normal. Needs more dogs."

His gunmetal eyes glinted. "What is the approximate level of cat?" Makoto asked.

"102.4598 per cent."

He burst into maniacal laughter. "Purr-fect." In the distance, there was a loud, ear-piercing screch. Because Makoto would not stop his goddamned laughing, Aigis plucked him from his villainous chair, pried him from the land of blue blog-gery, carried him into her arms and ran with the techniques of the sacred Naruto-bullshit style.

Two people were already sitting in the dining room, beginning to eat their meals. One of them was a stern looking business man. Even though his stare was one-eyed with a patch covering his left, every look still felt like the frowning of a lifetime.

The other was a girl with red flowing curls of hair and eyes to match. Looking adorable in her frilly, dark red and white dress, she was poking her food, tapping it cautiously with the end of her fork. "Mitsuru, what did I tell you about playing with your food?" the man asked. His voice sounded serious, but the fatigue in his voice came through. It seemed that he'd had to warn her about it several times before.

"I-I'm sorry!" she yelped. Mitsuru proceeded to eat the rest of her food at a reasonable pace.

Makoto was put down by Aigis at a chair, the android seating herself next to him. "Mission accomplished," she spoke.

The quivering Makoto, seemingly wracked by an onslaught of existential crises, was shaky at first with his chopsticks. "Thanks for the food!" He scarfed the lot down. The maids were the best. He hadn't tasted anything better. To think it was like that every day…

The business man stifled a chuckle. "How have your studies been progressing, Makoto-kun?"

He blinked in confusion. Studying? God. Oh god no. Makoto started screming through his closed mouth. "Studies have made no progress, Takeharu-sama," Aigis intoned for him. "Every time that Makoto attempts to do his homework, he is inflicted by what he called an 'existential crisis' and cannot continue doing his work due to his realisations about the meaning of life and his insignificance in the universe."

Makoto continued screming.

"Father! His screaming is scary!" Mitsuru exclaimed, curling up into a ball in her seat, shivering as every hair on her stood on end. "Mitsuru-chan demands calcium to block out the screaming!" Wonderful use of third person.

Takeharu pinched the bridge of his nose. "You're lactose intolerant…" He gave a huge sigh before summoning a maid with a glass of milk to the room.

"Calcium!"

"What's the meaning of life?! I need to express my emotions in a way that doesn't end up with the room exploding!"

Aigis came between the two new teens and patted their heads mechanically. "There, there. You will both be fine," she said. The robotic tone she had added spades of goodness to the current situation.

Most dinners were like that, unfortunately.

Mitsuru looked like she was zapped by electricity, while Makoto looked eerily vacant, muttering and moaning things about whether Aigis' moments of contact with his head were actually real. It was rather ironic that he sucked absolutely at mathematics and chemistry when he knew the terms 'existential crisis' and the basics of epistemology at the age of thirteen.

…

Fast forward a few years, both Makoto and Mitsuru were eighteen and in their final years of high school. They were accompanied by two other teens named Shinjiro and Akihiko. It was during spring break that the new member to their merry band had appeared.

She tiptoed into the lobby, scanning the area with narrowed eyes as she scrutinised the darkened surroundings.

A normal occurrence by this point, the Dark Hour struck at twelve midnight, bathing the world in a sea of green, blood and lots and lots of coffins. In this special time, most people were transmogrified into coffins, electronics stopped working and strange creatures by the name of Shadows roamed the street.

The girl, known as Yukari, scuttled in at absolutely the wrong time, clutching her duffel bags close to her. That was when, "What are you doing in my swamp?!" was bellowed down the stairs.

Yukari squealed a squeal of alarm—not fear, alarm—and instinctively swept her hand towards the gun holstered on the back of her belt.

No-one had noticed it as the holster was hidden by the backpack she was carrying. It was an overall, very convenient setup for her.

She pointed it towards the source of the voice. Silvery eyes gleamed as he recognised the form of the thing that she was pointing at him. "Hah! I don't even need a gun!" he exclaimed, followed by maniacal laughter. It was the laugh of a hollow man who questioned his existence at every waking moment. "You wanna go fucker?! You wanna fite, bruh?!"

A blue glow emanated from him, illuminating his mess of blue hair flying from the force of his power. His once silver eyes were now a cyan and the form of a robot carrying a lyre was outlined in the same colour of light. "Oraoraoraoraoraora—"

Yukari flinched, but knew something more than a little reassuring—she was trained to deal with people who wanted to fight—or in his words, 'fite'. "Makoto, that's not how you do it!"

Another male voice halted Makoto. There was a small 'ow!' preceded by some sort of light bodily contact. Suddenly, the green tint around the room was lifted, revealing the form of the silver-haired male behind Makoto.

This teen looked very much like he worked out. Makoto on the other hand, had a bruise on his forehead and had the equivalent of swirly eyes as he laid on the floor. "Hey. You must be the new kid," Akihiko said coolly as Makoto stood up, pressing a spontaneous bandage onto the flick induced bruise. "I'm Akihiko Sanada and this is Makoto Yuki. You might already know that we're both in third year," he began.

Clenching her teeth, she nodded. Who didn't know about Akihiko and Makoto? Akihiko and Makoto were the two unfortunate bishounen suckers of the story. They attracted rabid fan girls and boys like flies drawn to sugar.

But uh… that was just because everyone else was too dumb to realise just who they were and that the way that they acted wasn't necessarily normal.

Special mention to Makoto.

"Right. Yukari Takeba," she introduced curtly.

He whined at the pain as he stared at Yukari. Suspiciously, there was no gun in her hands. Makoto was almost certain that he saw some rifle on her. He started screming as he was struck by yet another existential crisis.

Akihiko punched Makoto's lights out while he was vulnerable, knocking him out cold. "Anyway, third floor is the girls' floor. Here are the keys so just match the number to the door," he explained before throwing the jangling objects through the air.

Yukari managed to catch and after reading the room number, she noticed that Akihiko was now dragging the knocked out Makoto up the stairs, presumably to his room.

As she walked she thought two things: be wary of Makoto. He appeared to possess some special power like she'd been told to have, but seemed to be much more experienced in using it.

Also be wary of Akihiko. Note: physically impressive.

Into her room she went.

In one of the nearby rooms, there was a faint whirring sound.

It didn't really sound like anything else.

In another one of the nearby rooms, there was a faint whimpering sound. It went something like:

"Calcium, calcium, calcium, calcium, milk, milk, milk—"

If Yukari had trouble with sleeping before, she was almost certain that she'd develop insomnia somewhere down the line because of this damned dorm.


	3. A Slice of Life Anime Series?

_"Log 378. Day 378._

_"I have made many a log before from the confines of my dormitory room in the girls' dorm. Today, however, will be my first time making notes at my new point of access: Iwatodai's one and only co-ed dorm. I do not know why I have been called to this dormitory, but I can conclude one thing:_

_"Every single person that lives in this dorm is insane."_

Recollection flashed back to the first day of the new school year. In the spring morning, birds were singing and flowers were blooming. Perfect weather for a game of catch.

As always, Yukari made her way to school, calmly, but warily. She didn't have to deal with any transfer student bullshit, so it was just a matter of getting back into the swing of things. This included archery club, her regular daily calls, plodding through homework and school life, and high—possibly even harmful—amounts of vigilance.

Unfortunately, it seemed that some god wanted to put her amongst a bunch of total crazies.

She'd questioned before why Mitsuru had gotten so much attention. Yukari understood the smarts and the beauty, but her nerve-ridden personality? The constant clamours for milk? Never. In fact, she was more of the opinion that guys (and some female students!) were after her for less than savoury purposes, such as, but not limited to gangbangs, paizuri and bukkake. I mean, seriously, what happens when you have a person shouting about milk all day?

In real life, probably not what I just listed.

It was in the main hall of the school that she encountered Makoto looking up at the class allocations on a nearby bulletin board. God, she wanted to avoid any contact with him, but she knew that she needed to bite the bullet. There was no other way of knowing.

Cautiously. Very cautiously, she slipped through the crowd and perused the board for the appropriate class allocation. As she looked however, she could feel a hair-raising glare on her person. It was decidedly different to the other mindless or lustful gazes that she received from other students.

If she wasn't in her right mind, she'd probably say that it was even somewhat refreshing.

She slowly turned towards her senpai. Flatly, deliberately. "What."

Makoto narrowed his eyes. "You wanna fite, bruh?" Yukari just shook her head and rolled her eyes. "I know it. I know it bruh. You wanna fite? You wanna go?! Come on." He made a come hither gesture as he cracked his neck.

The crowd of students were now turned towards the two of them. Yukari gritted her teeth at the provocation. She so wanted to put a bullet in his head. However, she sighed and found her name under the class labelled 2F. "I'm afraid I just found my class, so I'm going to have to decline your offer."

"You scared?" Makoto cracked his knuckles too. There was an 'ooh!' from the mob.

She scoffed. "I'm not scared of a crackpot psychopath, least of all you, _bitch_."

Makoto cracked his self-confidence and quickly hid his flinch. "Twelve midnight. We'll go. We'll go man."

A far off voice called, "Hey! Inciting violence is my gimmick!"

The shout went ignored. "I'd like to see you try," Yukari said and put up a rude gesture. The mob applauded her, chorusing with whistles, cheers and jeers.

With an 'I've got my eye on you' gesture, Makoto dragged himself to his classroom.

_"Makoto-senpai, is… just… I don't even know how to describe him. One minute, he's shouting Tumblr memes to try and incite violence, the next, he's crying about his latest existential crises and the others, he spends with another senior called Aigis. How do I even get started on her?"_

Makoto of course, dragged himself to homeroom where he saw Aigis. His gunmetal eyes were focused on her sunny hair, her porcelain skin and her sky blue optical mechanisms, glowing with electrically given life as they whirred, zoomed in, zoomed out of her surroundings. "Makoto-san. Good morning," she greeted.

His heart melted. "A-Aigis-chan, h-hey." Stunning as always. The statement was caught in his throat. He elected not to say it, filling his heart with awful wracks of pain. "Excited for the school year?"

"I am most delighted to sit through hours of questionable information and content that would likely have little to no use for someone of my status," she replied flatly.

_"I mean seriously. No-one even bothered to mention that Aigis is a robot. I also have no idea how I didn't come to this conclusion sooner. She is most literally an android, robot-thing whatever… that apparently has a personality. A shitty, naïve kind of robotic personality, but a personality nonetheless."_

He almost couldn't tell whether she was being sarcastic or not. "Ah, I know the feel." Makoto produced a meme face of a sad looking frog with 'same' in red comic sans over the frog. Apparently he referred to it as a 'pepe frog', and there were different varieties of the same frog which could be used to describe different emotions. Very memeingful.

"Yes." Aigis walked over to him and without hesitation or regard for the other students' gawking, wrapped him in a tender, but metallic embrace. "I sensed that you desired a hug of the comforting type. Do you feel any more… elated, Makoto-san?"

Makoto started wailing.

_"I'm half amazed at her. I mean, on one hand, she has the emotional range of a teaspoon. On the other… I'm amazed that she never gets annoyed when Makoto-senpai is having one of his 'emotional breakdowns' or 'existential crises'._

_"But god, I haven't even gotten to Mitsuru-senpai, or Akihiko-senpai."_

The two of them moved to the auditorium where the beginning of year address was taking place. Before the principal began his droning, they seated themselves near Akihiko and Mitsuru, who both happened to be in the same class.

Mitsuru was listening to the address intently, some strange 'twitching' occurring in her general vicinity. She was trying hard not to yawn, but when she finally did, she let out a small, rather cute one, which made people in the immediate surroundings (that weren't Makoto, Aigis or Akihiko) squeal or 'aww' out of its sheer kawaii-ness.

The other senior was more like rumbling in his seat. Vibrating. With power. He seemed to be displease. Very displease. Sparks were beginning to gather around him.

In total, the address, along with a few other announcements, all took an hour. It left everyone wondering why it felt like three.

_"Ugh, what I'm thinking about doesn't seem that bad, I know. By all means, they look a lot more normal from afar. But seriously… Their voices carry. Across the whole freakin' school."_

At first, Akihiko was just shaking his leg. The way that makes others sitting near or really close to them really annoyed because it just doesn't stop. All the while, he growled, trying to keep his voice down. You're supposed to show some sort of respect while you're listening to the teacher, after all, but he was just so _bored_.

Her head was hammering with the soft taps and the snarls. Faster. Pounding. Thumping.

It started off small and almost unnoticeable. She probably didn't even realise herself that what she was now doing was growing louder until it was a full-fledged 'nyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy—"

The sound Mitsuru made coupled with Akihiko's now immense impatience reverberated through the walls of the school like the call of a dog whistle.

Students, as if compelled, motioned and got out of their seats, kneeling on one knee before Mitsuru. Others in robotic motions approached Akihiko. The teacher, Ounishi-sensei, stood to try and calm the class.

The results of such confrontation were more or less, needless to say.

_"If I didn't know any better, it's because of how distressed Mitsuru-senpai gets sometimes that she gets students to follow her in the first place. They can't let a crying or shrieking girl with the kind of cup size and ass that she has go unnoticed. And her hair. Have I mentioned that I'm jealous of her hair?_

_"Oh. And Akihiko-senpai. I don't really know what else to say as of yet. But aside from all the gym junkie stuff that I've heard about him thus far… he's actually probably the most normal person in the dorm. I mean, sure, he doesn't take any shit, his temper's short and he gets restless really easily, but… Yeah, I haven't really seen him display the kinds of weirdness that the others have._

_"Now, I'm out. I need to 'fite' Makoto-senpai up on the roof. Yukari Takeba, out."_

…

Standing in the breeze of the night air, Makoto looked down from the roof upon the darkened streets, blaring Panic! At the Disco in his ears like the emo, pop punk trash he was.

The Dark Hour hit and Yukari stood at the entrance, pointing a magnum at him.

He stared at her like a deer in headlights, as if forgetting what he'd called her up there for. "Get rekt, scrub." In the green murk of the ethereal hour, a blue glow began surrounding him. No weapons. Not even a fake gun.

In an explosion of glass shards and mist formed a towering figure cloaked in black. Through lifeless eyeholes, the monster peered at Yukari with the almost maniacal grin formed by its white, draconic mask. It roared and brandished its sword, breathing heavily with the prospect of battle.

Everything in Yukari screamed at her to retreat, but there was something else inside her that wanted to stay and show him her capability. And her marksmanship with a gun.

"Why are we fighting?" Yukari asked, not hesitating to point her weapon at Makoto.

He inclined his head. "We, and the world, just aren't what you think they're cracked up to be," Makoto spoke, walking forward like a predator stalking prey. "I'm supposed to unlock your power called Persona. I mean, why else would you be moved here? Just for shits and giggles?"

"Yeah?"

Stare. His grey eyes, now piercing cyan, fixated on her. "Well, maybe." He shook his head. "Nah, never." Makoto looked up at his summoned creature. "So, Thanatos. Megidola for a start?"

The black creature behind him gathered a purple orb of energy in its mask's maw, humming dangerously with the promise of pure, unadulterated pain.

Hell yeah, she felt scared. But Yukari Takeba wasn't going to stand down. She had pride, dammit!

* * *

**AN: So you know how I said this was an OP Makoto fic? I wasn't lying! :D**

**Um... Thanks for reading and hope you enjoyed the chapter? Yeah, nah, this whole thing is being written on the fly. I suppose I can get away with putting in semi-serious scenes? Anyways...**

**Later! I'll be back with more whenever I get a chance.**


	4. And a Long Running Shounen

Ashen and charred, Yukari was blown onto the floor by the Almighty attack. With gritted teeth, trying to pull up her revolver towards her target, she struggled onto her feet.

Similarly, Makoto was leaning against the edge of the roof. No blood or wounds. He watched the bullet that she'd shot embed into the brick and concrete. "Did I say Megidola? I meant something else…"

Thanatos looked at Makoto for a moment before turning back to Yukari. Mask now closed, he just shrugged, jabbering in some unknown language. Sounded like rattling bones. "True, if I did that, I'd probably kill her," Makoto said, seeming to agree with his Persona.

Meanwhile, she watched with a 'what the fuck?' kind of expression. And shot at Makoto's knee.

With a roar, Thanatos swung his coffin cape, shielding Makoto from the attack. He picked him up and hugged him like a plush doll, jabbering once again. "Yeah, I know. But I don't ship that."

Thanatos once again, jabbered. Angrily.

"Hey! Don't give me that! It's borderline selfcest and you know it!"

He gave him something along the lines of a low, chuckling noise.

Makoto side-eyed Yukari before turning back to his Persona. "No-one's supposed to know that…"

"I thought we were fighting," Yukari said, barely able to move.

He glanced back and forth between her and Thanatos before stopping at his Persona, muttering, "Right… You know what I want."

Thanatos roared, the vibrations from his cry distorting the heavens themselves. With a single motion, he charged towards Yukari, brandishing his blade. She of course, backed off and tried to get out of Makoto's Persona's trajectory, eventually having her back against the wall.

However, just as he was about to swing at her, he leaned in close.

Sweat pouring down her face, she still had her revolver trained on the creature. Shaking from the weight of death's aura.

Thanatos kept staring at Yukari. "Makoto, what even?!"

The Persona kept his stare and eventually, it spoke. "Boo."

Yukari glared at Thanatos, through all of his imposing immensity. "That's not scary."

And long story short, after unmentioned struggle, Thanatos took Yukari's gun, getting a bullet in his hand in the process (Makoto immediately felt that burning in his left hand), emptied it, pressed it against her forehead and pulled the trigger.

Blood pumping, adrenaline flowing. Yukari's eyes widened as _something_ rushed through her body. It wasn't the liquid or chemicals. Just piercing pain and temporal euphoria. A power high of some sort the likes of which she'd never experienced before.

Thanatos held onto the gun as glass shards and red formed a creature, similar in nature to Makoto's.

And she blacked out. After having her Persona forced out of her head, she was hit by exhaustion from the summoning and she fell unconscious for a while.

Makoto and the other seniors met in the command room.

"So… I'm a Persona user… This whole dorm is _filled_ with people that can use Personas and… uh, you're trying to get rid of that green stuff that happens at midnight," Yukari summarised.

"Pretty much," Makoto replied. "And well, you can join us. Or not. Would prefer the former."

Yukari thought. It was true enough that this Dark Hour thing could be really useful to her. She could travel freely in a time in which only a few select people (all of which were nutters and likely wouldn't care what she was doing) were awake and walk unseen by any others transmogrified into coffins.

"Oh alright." She _did_ need to find out what happened to her dad and all. For plot progression, but no promise of character development.

He clasped his hands together. Mitsuru curled up in a seat, anticipating what came next, while Akihiko groaned and exited the room. "Now, as per tradition, I will tell you about my tragic backstory."

"Wait, no, you really don't have to—"

"Sometimes, everything happens for a reason."

"Makoto, really. I'm sure it's interesting but…"

"Hush."

…

Makoto believed sometimes, in fatalism, or determinism. Where every single event in their lives that had occurred was as a result of sequential events, forming a chain reaction of further events. He found, however, that trying to explain the things that had happened to him about a decade ago and all the stuff in between, had always put him on the edge of psychotic, if he wasn't already.

At other times, it became more convenient to believe that he had some degree of 'free will' because he felt like he did—as if he had the power to control his own fate. Sometimes, it was a combination of both.

Searching for the 'why' behind what he'd experienced, Makoto wondered whether he was making a difference. If what he was doing was really… worth it.

When he was eight, his family died in a car accident. On the same night, he saw the sky turn from navy to ugly washes of sap green. The bridge—Moonlight Bridge—had stopped buzzing with activity as it seemed all the cars had stopped working. The moon almost eclipsed the night in yellow, like coffee stains plastered and dried across the road.

At first, he was worried because well, the world had just turned green and his parents were in coffins.

Then, he was worried because… because…! Well, a car was hurtling towards straight towards his. Makoto, while taking off his seatbelt and opening the car door, screamed his lungs out, hoping anyone would hear him.

Following this, he'd stopped. Not because of someone hearing him. But because… his throat was sore.

Managing to slip away from the confines of his car, the other hunk of metal crash landed in it. His eyes darted for the source of the thrown projectile. That was when he saw a tall, black creature, cloaked in menace.

The air, now that he'd noticed the conflict going on further up the road, was charged with the weight of dread and a cold, clammy feeling that clutched, scrabbled and wanted to claw holds in his skin.

Another figure, which he couldn't quite make out, was zooming around the creature in a white blur. Then, a blue thing appeared behind it and it crashed into what he'd decided at the time to be a monster.

He didn't have the heart to tear his eyes away from it.

However, the blue thing and the white figure were blown away, riiiiiiight…

Into the car stacked on top of his car.

Through his sore throat, he wanted to shout and yell for any help. He could see the white figure clearly now. They looked like a girl, with shortish blonde hair and porcelain skin. However, her legs, long and slender, did not end with feet, and were not attached to their hips in a normal way. Same went for her arms.

She struggled from the wreckage, glancing at Makoto and the creature.

Then he felt blinding pain. A splitting headache, somehow spreading its torment from crown to toe, hand to hand, shoulder to shoulder. And blood. Blood pouring through his clothing, hot, wet and sticky with colour. An abnormal amount of blood for an eight year old to be witnessing.

No, he didn't lose an arm. Or turn into a metal robot version of himself.

His entire body was split into two clean halves, gore and viscera spilling in crimson fireworks across the asphalt.

…

"Wait, _what_?!" Yukari exclaimed, pausing Makoto's monologue.

A finger came to Yukari's lips. He didn't care that she was trying to bite him. "Shh…"

…

And when the display, truly worthy of New Year's Eve celebrations occurred, Makoto felt his life fading, quite quickly. His last thought would be getting cut in half.

"Death is not a hunter unbeknownst to its prey."

Makoto stared into the blackness upon which the words appeared. 'What do you mean?! I don't want to die! This isn't the end! I don't want my last thought to be about getting cut in half!' he wanted to exclaim.

"That is death. There is no choice in when… or how…" a voice boomed.

He looked around for the source, which seemed to come from every conceivable direction. His vision was starting to blur. Not because of melting surroundings, or faulty vision. Tears obscured even the darkness he hoped to peer into. "But why?" Makoto could barely whimper.

There seemed to be no answer as all presence disappeared from the shadows.

Scrunching his fists into tightened balls and collapsing onto them and his knees, staring at his own blood, he wondered how he was still all together. His chest congested with tension and hiccups of tears mixing with the pool beneath him. What he thought were his facial muscles, were beginning to tire as his emotions forced them into clenched teeth, shackled eyebrows, eyes squeezed shut with lock and key.

Despairing as nothing more but pitiful sobs escaped him, face stained with a mixture of red, salt and water, he wondered whether he could find it in him to stop crying. Accept his fate.

Rasps wriggled free from his mouth. "N-No… I won't…"

His barely stitched body ever so slowly, was wrapped in song which slowly pieced together what seemed to be left of him. In stasis, Makoto's mangled mess of parts knitted, intertwined and glowed with ethereal energy of a blue colour.

"I won't let you…" Makoto's grimace slowly morphed into a loud grin, smearing itself as power from within him flooded his system. Shining with the colour of clear skies, a being almost in his shape, took form and held him close as healing continued.

The end of the power high was abrupt.

Blackness completely gone, he was back to staring at the robot girl from before. Hearing the movement of the black creature, Makoto's eyes had taken on the same colour as the being that held him before.

'Save loaded successfully.'

Wind stirred up around him as determination fuelled his actions. The blue being from before seemed to have formed fully, taking on a mechanical sheen. Somehow, he knew its name, like an old friend that he'd known since beginning of consciousness.

"Orpheus… Megido." The being's red eyes gleamed and a blast of violet energy coursed towards the monster, blowing it backwards some distance. The monster let out a howl, clearly of displeasure and fury.

Taking this distraction, the robot released a blinding flash of light.

When he reopened his eyes, the girl was collapsed on the ground. "Hey! A-Are you okay?" Makoto ran over to her, trying to stir her awake. He noticed that she was damaged to some degree, probably from when she'd be thrust into the car.

…

"And so, I met Aigis-chan, I got taken to the Kirijo group because of my Persona ability and… yeah… Here. I'm field leader of this school group." He looked flatly at the ground.

Yukari just stared at Makoto. What even the fuck?

* * *

**AN: Undertale? What Undertale?**

**Sorry. Not very funny chapter today. Backstory is fine though, riiiiight? Yes, Makoto died and he used his determination to save him from death, reloading him from a 'save point'. If that isn't Undertale logic, I don't know what is, but it was inspired by how in P3 and its variations uses multiple save files! So I was like... lol, what if Death tried to kill him and that awakened his Persona?**

**And yes, there is no Velvet Room. Sorry. He summons his Personas based on his own power and yeah. Orpheus knew _Megido_ when he first summoned it. Yes. I know. OP af.**

**Lastly... I'd be interested to know what you guys think Thanatos was saying to Makoto to earn the responses he received. Thanatos is the only Persona able to talk, btw... I can PM you with what the dialogue was if you express some interest in the reviews, but I'll probably tell in the AN next chapter.**

**Anyways... Thanks for reading and hope you enjoyed the chapter?**


	5. Tsunderes! Tsunderes Everywhere!

Mysterious, emo vibes. Basically smelling of garbage. Silver eyes that stared into your soul. Stupid, fabulous blue hair. Could dirty talk in English. Who _didn't_ love that dumbass Tumblr trash?

The blonde totally not robot at least had the right idea. Never refusing to give the boy comfort when he was inundated with thoughts of just… _life_ in general.

Junpei Iori was one of those people. He _hated_ Makoto Yuki, in fact. They'd never interacted much, being in separate year groups, but Makoto's questionable popularity simply transcended all boundaries. It wasn't helping that Yukari had been talking non-stop about him.

Although, not in praise. She thought he was a psychopath. A really amazingly edgy psychopath who could summon ethereal creatures from another world. Who was _truly_ the psychopath, then?

He learned very quickly that he might've been one of them as yesterday night, when his father had once again been drunk off his sorry ass, Junpei had experienced the world turning green, cold, and full of monsters seemingly out for his blood.

Unfortunately, it was not Makoto who had saved him, but the captain of the boxing team, Akihiko Sanada. He charged into the convenience store where he'd been attempting to hide from assaults of eldritch abominations yelling something like "—meha!" Didn't hear all of it.

This uh… blob monster coming after Junpei. It was blasted away by a blue beam of light which crackled eerily of electricity and was disintegrated into bits of smoke and black blood.

"Kaio-ken!" Akihiko's voice echoed and wrenched through the store as if it were a concert hall. A flare of amber light came from his body, again crackling strangely with electricity. Thought it was supposed to be red… He stood in front of the crouching Junpei, fists readied in a southpaw stance. "Are you okay?" he asked, bristling with energy.

Junpei struggled to formulate a response to the decidedly Dragonball-like Akihiko standing in front of him. "U-Uh… I guess…?" He stood to full height, everything in him shaking. "How are you doing that?"

He gave Junpei a grin. "Just years of training, gravity rooms and experience."

It might've been better if he _was_ rescued by Makoto. Akihiko had taken the pleasure to explain all sorts of things—the intricacies of training regimes, muscle build-up via protein shakes, the value of calcium to increase bone integrity, the process of breaking and healing bone to gain the ability to punch through solid stone, consumption of iron-rich vegetables, essential fatty acids found in seafood—without really answering his original question. Moreover, he'd taken the rest of the hour to try bolting the food pyramid, every major muscle and bone's name, the relevant exercises to strengthen these muscles, gravity rooms (still wasn't sure about that) and the merits of synthesising the knowledge and techniques from not _only_ boxing, but fighting styles all over the world.

…

"I meant the glowing," Junpei muttered.

Makoto placed a hand on his shoulder, which was quickly flicked away by Junpei's sheer flicking strength. "I dunno if he's actually fucking with you or not, because I can't even tell," he admitted. "Apparently he's also trained in harnessing his internal energies—Ki—to be able to achieve the feats of everything Dragonball related.

"But… Probably not without a little help from his Persona," Makoto finished.

After he succinctly explained the intricacies of Personas—their origin, powers, yadda yadda—to Junpei, he got to the part where he said this: "Akihiko has the Zio element. The electric one. Right?"

"Uh yeah. What's that got to do with anything?" Junpei sighed. At the very least, Makoto didn't take that long to explain Personas at all. Miracle, really. Definitely preferable to Akihiko.

He pinched the bridge of his nose. "He uses Zio to excite the air near him, and it creates plasma. I'm not explaining how because I frankly don't give a shit. Plasma is apparently the kind of matter that the Dragonball characters use to attack their enemies, like with the Kamehameha wave."

"I thought you didn't pay attention in any classes except for composition," Junpei mumbled.

"I don't." Makoto folded his arms. "I watched a video on it."

"God you're a fucking nerd…"

"Same."

Junpei watched as Makoto swept his hair out of his _alluring_ silver eyes. One of the rumours that was spread about Makoto Yuki around the school was that he'd fucked everyone in the school. Not 'fucked with', or 'fucked up'. Just straight up, fucked everyone.

Somehow, he could see why anyone would think that. God. Why didn't he have his hair out of his eyes all the time? Junpei felt like he could see everything within those starlit eyes, dancing with the consistency of glowing mercury; even the image of their long awaited, passionate kiss by the beaches of Yakushima. "Anyways. Welcome to the team. I'm field leader. I fuck up _every_ Shadow that I come across with the precision of a razor blade. Follow my orders, and you'll be fine. If you don't, I _will_ cut you."

"With that razor blade precision?"

Makoto smirked, demonic intentions distorting what would've been a good-natured grin. "More than you could ever know." Little known fact: Everyone turns gay for Makoto. It doesn't matter who you are. You turn gay. Even you're straight and you like him… You turn gay.

That little sneer made Junpei's cis het heart melt. Mein gott. He had to stop. This didn't make sense! This wasn't him! It was just… his overwhelming charm despite his… total… trashy-ness… Must. Resist. "I'd love that…"

"What'd you say?" Makoto raised an eyebrow.

"Nothing. It isn't like I think you're really charismatic and charming. Baka."

…

Makoto went back to his room that night to do his usual Tumblr rounds at _**miserably-philanthropic**_. First thing on the agenda:

'i think one of my juniors just turned gay for me again'

* * *

**AN: Just to update this and get it out there cuz this chapter has been sitting unfinished for way too long... Soz, not that much happened and it was kinda short. Also it sucked. Just introduced Junpei. Bai.**

**Thanks for reading and hope you enjoyed the chapter.**

**(Yes, this blog does actually exist.)**


	6. The Birth of the Blade

Ten years ago.

After witnessing Aigis collapse on the road, he'd rushed forward to her side. Instinctively, he called upon the power pumping through his system. Maybe it was just force of adrenaline. Either way, he called: "Orpheus!"

Once again, the metallic creature formed behind him. Responding to his will, Orpheus began playing a song on his lyre, soft notes channelling towards Aigis's fallen frame.

Minutes seemed like hours as each note ticked by in the murk of the Dark Hour. Indeed, Makoto seemed to be too focused on healing and instinct that he could care less about the abnormal conditions that he was indeed in. "Please, wake up…" He wasn't quite sure why he felt such an urge to save the mechanical maiden that appeared to be the cause of his parents' deaths.

Eventually her blue eyes peered open, focusing and refocusing as the UI came into view in her visual receptors. "You are…" The electricity in her eyes dilated as she stared up at her apparent saviour. "That boy!"

"It's Makoto," he muttered, sitting back on his calves. It was probably years later that he realised exactly _why_ he felt the way he did. Makoto took it now as something he could consider… normal: a child's weakness and vulnerability after being skinned raw.

Before he could continue with, "not 'that boy'", Aigis took his quake wracked frame and pulled him towards her whirring, porcelain one. Perhaps a makeshift mother's embrace. "Makoto-sama… I apologise deeply."

She didn't allow him to blurt out another exclamation. "My system has sustained serious damage. My initial scans show that I am at fifty-seven per cent of working capacity, thanks to your efforts. I am afraid however… That I may have miscalculated…"

"Miscalculated?"

Aigis closed her eyes. "I must go into power saving mode. Once the Dark Hour comes to an end, if there is such a possibility, the Kirijo Group, if they are not already on their way, will come and take care of you," she whispered. Makoto strained to catch her words as she powered down.

His eyes widened as she entered a death-like state. The whirrs and whizzing were silenced. All that was left was flickering flame. "W-Wait…" Makoto stood to observe his surroundings: Hellish carnage. With all trepidation, he crawled away from the presumably sleeping Aigis and towards the wreck of the car he'd almost been trapped in.

In the front seats was a mangled mess of limbs bent at spider legs' angles. If the stench of iron wasn't strong enough already, the concoction of petrol and blood made the urge to retch even stronger. Makoto struggled to keep his stomach calm as he felt the odour begin its upheaval.

Hot bile surged sourly onto the ground, half-digested rice abominations splattering the smell of guts across the asphalt. It compounded the compulsion, forcing everything out until there was nothing left but shivering dry heaves.

Those were his parents' corpses?

That couldn't possibly be right. One glance was almost enough to prove him wrong. Maybe they were puppets? It would explain the unnatural shape… But not the bone. Not the flesh. Not the blood.

Sharp scents mingled in the air for what seemed to be eternities. From there it was a blur.

A few months after the Moonlight Bridge incident, Makoto had finally been released from Iwatodai Memorial Hospital. He didn't really have to do anything for his parents. He also wasn't sure whether the realisation was… hitting him. Apparently the Kirijo Group Conglomerate was covering the costs for not only their funerals, but for the hospital stay as well.

He didn't really have a say in who was going to take custody of him. There were some relatives further east that he could've been taken to, but it seemed that there were some other forces that were pushing him in another direction.

All of those months… Makoto couldn't really sleep. The cold of the Dark Hour was too obvious to keep out of mind. In the wakeful fear, he saw the strange creatures' stretched, dark forms flit across the corridors just outside, casting hissing, black cut outs in a taunting puppet show. Outside. They gathered in a dark congregation, hoping to climb up the gaol's walls.

What's happening?

The thought played over like a scratched record over the nights. Dark circles grew under his eyes, the soot of dark divination tainting his face, vision and mind. "You should be asleep!" the nurses scolded him.

God, he wished he could sleep.

Then, the sliding doors were torn open. A sickening roll. The inky blot lunged towards him.

Makoto yelped as he scrabbled away from the shape. Despite his heart tugging for the relief of a nightmare, everything else screamed that it was real. He was going to die if he didn't react. Cold malice crept up on him, smothering his breath through the pungent hand of a kidnapper. "S-Someone… Help me…" he uttered.

The beast's claws craved his blood. The remnants of psyche within him.

Shunk.

Time seemed to slow as it dipped into his arms, his chest, his throat, his face—Blood. It sprayed like a triumphant fountain from where his head once was. In its palm, the animal grasped a blue, glowing shard. Before the child's scream could try piercing the throes of silence, it was all black.

"Death is not a hunter unbeknownst to its prey."

In an ethereal scene, the crimson crawled back up from its final resting place. Flesh attached to flesh. Bone with bone. The work was restitched to perfection until the boy was bolt upright in his thin, thin bed. "I-I'm…"

'Save loaded successfully.'

His eyes darted to his hands. He turned over his arms. All there.

Then, the sliding doors were torn open. A sickening roll. The inky blot lunged towards him.

If he couldn't get away fast enough, what could he do?

What did he say before? "Orpheus…?"

Instead of Makoto being blown back, Orpheus took the brunt of the blow. Gel into metal, metal into ground. Despite the racing pain impacting his mind, Makoto managed a small "M-Megido…" The metallic creature's eyes flashed and a violet beam shot into the darkness, shredding the enemy until it was nothing but black puddle.

…

A hand anchored his body to a surreal reality. Cold. Metal. "Makoto-san. Your eyes have been dilated for a total of four minutes. What do you desire?" Aigis's words just managed to float into recognition.

For a moment, he didn't see Aigis peering into his eyes. "O-Oh. Uh…" After so long, Makoto couldn't find much of a way to refuse Aigis's doting, obligation or not. His gaze lowered, and as he began pulling away from her hand, she brought him into one of those awkward, cold embraces that he'd grown to hunger. "Thanks."

"You are welcome. After all, Makoto-san saved me from total shutdown all those years ago, and had allowed me to look after you throughout adolescence," Aigis reasoned, momentarily pulling away from his shaken frame. Before Makoto was able to open his mouth once more, she continued, "I believe that you may be experiencing dissociation once again. Please be mindful of any triggers and your health."

"Uh, right," Makoto murmured, unable to form much more of a sentence as he struggled to pull away from Aigis' alluring gaze. "I'll try."

Aigis nodded. "By the way… Is it _that_ time of year again?"

He narrowed his eyes as he attempted to eke out the meaning behind her words. Until… "Do you mean…?" She, once again, nodded in affirmation. "Oh no… I'm not ready for this."

She placed her hand upon his shoulder. "In life, many people are not ready for the hardships that come their way; even the ones that are necessary to overcome. I believe that you, of all people, will be able to overcome this hardship, if you are able to harness the power of our team's synergy against the enemy."

"Thanks, but that can't really be true, can it?"

"It won't be, if you keep that attitude up. I know you can do it, like you've done many times before, whatever painstaking methods you must use," Aigis rebutted.

Makoto sighed, stood and reached for the sheathed blade thrown upon his room's couch. "Fine then. Let's go. I think this is going to be a long battle."

* * *

**AN: So... I changed the way that the 'full moon' bosses are working in the fic. Otherwise, there would be no way for this to make sense if I use canon's logic. How is it changed?**

**I'm going to recount some of the past experiences with full moon bosses so that it'll make sense what happened in-between major conflicts and the way that Makoto's powers work. It'll be... something. Hehe.**

**Sorry this chapter wasn't really funny. I just wanted to get right to the rest of the story after leaving this fic cold for so long.**

**Thanks for reading and hope you enjoyed the chapter!**


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